Viceroy's Gripe Session.

March 29th, 2011, 03:39 PM

I'm mad as he-ll but I only have myself to blame. As if trying to balance a full life and try to maintain an above average training regimen weren't hard enough, I have fallen off of the health nut truck and digressed.

One thing I've found out that eats away at a multipurpose work-out like battery acid on a t-shirt is poor civilian habits like too much rest, junk food (i.e. hamburgers, fries etc.) and allowing stress to build up. Dealing with the wife and kids, and taking on too much responsibility at work has caused time lapses of 2 to 4 days to go by without continuous, two-a-day training. To add insult to injury, opting to eat out instead of maintaining my diet has brought me down from gazelle-like fitness to the fitness of a slug.

To make matters that much worse, to prepare my body to run on regular diet, like what I'll be eating at BCT, I've dropped my mega liquid multi-vitamin and supplement intake, which has slowed my progress even more. Eating junk food is bad enough but to go back to eating junk food after having cleansed your body has a double whammy effect.

The good news is I've only gained a couple pounds as a result of slacking off. My metabolism was so high before I went on vacation in Florida, I actually lost weight even though I didn't lift a finger for a week. It seems counterintuitive but I've made greater gains when training with less sleep and allowing for less recovery time as well as eating small yet nutrient and vitamin rich foods (eating for fuel instead of eating to get full).

So, for the remainder of this week (since Monday night) My diet will consist of nothing but raw almonds, Acai berry juice, granola cereal, 3 Boost protein drinks a day, and gallons of water. Free weights are off limits. To minimize shin splint injury I'm focusing primarily on the elliptical with some treadmill reinforcement. So far, I've at least eliminated the sluggishness that was begining to overcome my body. I'm becoming more alert and focused again.

Congratulations on your new-found zest. We all go through a rut at times; some more than others. Your issue about stress, family and eating habits hits about 90% of the married/family population. What I do is basically after my PT test is take some time to go downhill for a while. With the last three months before the next PT test, I start amping it up a bit. It usually works with a person that is older with a busy lifestyle.

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WOW, VICEROY, you need to relax! And this is coming from one of the most (previously) anxiety-ridden posters ON this forum.

Stress can have just as much of a huge impact on how you feel and how well you perform as food and your diet does. You do not need to 'resort to eating junk food' to get ready for BCT, nor would I think that eating nothing but nuts, berries and protein drinks is very good for you either.........You must either have aspirations of becoming a squirrel or simply want to spend all your spare time (that you are not aggressively working out) in the latrine.

I'm all for motivation and preparedness, but state of mind has a lot to do with it too; abusing your body could do more harm than good in the long run.

We all want to see you succeed and applaud your motivation, but pace yourself; I almost ruined my chances getting here by overtraining and temporarily messing up my knee a little. A very wise soldier (insert LRSU_Dog here) gave me some sound advice. Sometimes pain is not 'weakness leaving the body' it's your body telling you to slow down.

Has is occurred to you that your sluggishness could be your body trying to tell you something? You don't want to take 1 step forward and then 3 steps back by over-doing your training. By the time you get to BCT, you'll have nothing left to offer but exhaustion.

Might I suggest laying off all the supplements and taking a CHILL PILL instead!

WOW, VICEROY, you need to relax! And this is coming from one of the most (previously) anxiety-ridden posters ON this forum.

Stress can have just as much of a huge impact on how you feel and how well you perform as food and your diet does. You do not need to 'resort to eating junk food' to get ready for BCT, nor would I think that eating nothing but nuts, berries and protein drinks is very good for you either.........You must either have aspirations of becoming a squirrel or simply want to spend all your spare time (that you are not aggressively working out) in the latrine.

I'm all for motivation and preparedness, but state of mind has a lot to do with it too; abusing your body could do more harm than good in the long run.

We all want to see you succeed and applaud your motivation, but pace yourself; I almost ruined my chances getting here by overtraining and temporarily messing up my knee a little. A very wise soldier (insert LRSU_Dog here) gave me some sound advice. Sometimes pain is not 'weakness leaving the body' it's your body telling you to slow down.

Has is occurred to you that your sluggishness could be your body trying to tell you something? You don't want to take 1 step forward and then 3 steps back by over-doing your training. By the time you get to BCT, you'll have nothing left to offer but exhaustion.

Might I suggest laying off all the supplements and taking a CHILL PILL instead!

And remember stress can be good for you too!!

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I also think you need to relax. You're shipping soon, right? Spend time with your family and friends before you leave, because they are the most important ones, and the ones that you'll miss when you're gone. These next few days aren't going to have a big impact on your performance at basic training. It's the months and weeks before that will have an impact. Be prepared to be going stir crazy during reception. It's difficult to PT besides doing things in the bays, you'll feel lazy and not ready for BCT, but everyone is going through the same thing. I think your fitness is fine, you shouldn't be worried. They (the DS's) are going to get you where you need to be physically, mentally will be up to you. Just relax a little bit, have some good meals before you leave, because you won't have any for a while. I'm sure a lot of your stress could also be coming from being nervous/anxious to ship. Everyone gets that, relax buddy, you'll be fine.

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How's your resting heart rate? Do you know the symptoms of overtraining? This may sound counterintuitive as you've mentioned you think you're slacking but sometimes your body needs to rest, and when it does, it will let you know in different ways: elevated heart rate is one of them. Kind of unrelated but figure I'd mention this...

Beware that carbohydrates (oh no, the dreaded C word!) is the best fuel for running (cardio exercise), running on protein alone can overtax your kidneys and make you dig into your muscles for fuel (which is like running a high-compresion engine on low octane gas), not only is ineficient but your body composition may suffer.

I commend you for being commited to your training... rest up if you need a day off and if you've already taken your break, get back to your last "good" training session, rinse and repeat... no need to get extreme... clean eating is sensible eating.

Thank y'all so much!! So many responses so quickly! *drawing back the tears*

I'm okay. I just wanted to gripe for a minute. Cityslicker, you're are so right. After every drill I lose my mind and eat like a bear after having hybernated through the winter. Chris, I know that ain't you, Miss Pot, calling me a black kettle!

I'm managing the stress now. How do you like this--I was a couple weeks from trying to focus on shipping off to Ft. Benning (April 5th THIS COMING TUESDAY) when the wife up and drops a **** right on top of my head. She wants to move into a brand new house. What a gal, eh? Getting a new house isn't the problem per se. It's the stress of watching nothing but "HOUSE HUNTERS, HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL, PROPERTY VIRGINS, FLIP THIS HOUSE, and having gone through filling out eApplications online 3 times a day everyday for that super luxury house in Vermont on the da-mn HGTV channel 24-7 for 4 fri-ggin' months. No, we didn't win the house in Vermont and the $500,000 in spending money.

MommaGrizzly, I keep forgetting to measure my at rest heart rate. It's probably okay now since I've been doing all this slacking off.

Hey, starsnstripes. Man, after what I found out about Benning not having the 1-1-1 test at reception anymore that just threw me for a loop. I train because I have this fear of not being ready once I get there. Can't just pack up and go home. I'm gonna have to just get it done. Yeah, I know that's what BCT is all about.

In all this that I'm putting myself through before I even make it down range, I hope I hype myself up to the point where basic ends up being a breeze--at least compared to if I had shown up at reception with a beer belly and completely unprepared.

Thanks everybody for the support. I'm kicking a-ss regardless or I'll die trying when I get to Benning. HOOAH!!!

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Do you need a friggen hug? You see the problem, fix it and move forward.. You cant correct the past, correct the future. Dont complain about a cheeseburger, Bacon is awesome!!! Its a condiment and a meal, just like mashed taters!! You can mix those and find pure heaven by the way..

Do you need a friggen hug? You see the problem, fix it and move forward.. You cant correct the past, correct the future. Dont complain about a cheeseburger, Bacon is awesome!!! Its a condiment and a meal, just like mashed taters!! You can mix those and find pure heaven by the way..